LaunchPad Announces Winners of 2026 Freelance, Small Business and Creatives Competition
Syracuse University Libraries’ LaunchPad awarded three student teams a total of $4,000 in prizes at its Freelance, Small Business and Creatives Pitch Competition on Friday, October 2, 2026. Undergraduate and graduate students building careers or side hustles through services or products delivered 4-minute pitches followed by a 2-minute Q&A session with a panel of expert judges. Winners were:
- First Place: EXCHKR, founder Gabi Josefson ’28 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications). EXCHKR, a platform that simplifies how clubs, sports teams and Greek organizations manage payments and track budgets.
- Second Place: Frutecho, founder Carolina Aguayo Plá ’28 (School of Information Studies and Martin J. Whitman School of Management). Frutecho is a modular cooling retrofit for non-refrigerated trucks that reduces produce spoilage and helps small farmers access premium markets.
- Third Place: Scout Szn, founder Daelan Pinsky ’28 (Falk College of Sport). Scout Szn is a free college football scouting platform covering all 15,102 FBS players across 138 programs.
Twenty-two student teams competed across three breakout rooms, with one team per room advancing to the finals.
The next entrepreneurial competition hosted by the LaunchPad is the ’Cuse Tank Competition on Friday, October 16, from 12 – 3 pm. ’Cuse Tank is hosted during Family Weekend, and judges include accomplished parent innovators, entrepreneurs and alumni. Winners receive prize funding to help advance their business idea. Students interested in pitching in ’Cuse Tank must register online by October 12 at 11:59am.